The Liberal Democrats, the natural party of government?
If four years ago, a Liberal Democrat politician had attempted to portray the Lib Dems as the natural party of government we all would have laughed. But that is just… Continue reading
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Top Tory calls party activists ‘mad swivel-eyed loons’
Insulting your own side is a dangerous thing to do in politics and in the current circumstances for any prominent Tory to do it is positively incendiary. But one ‘senior… Continue reading
87 Comments
What does Cameron actually want back from Brussels?
If you ask what’s the problem with David Cameron’s European strategy, a cacophony of voices strike up. But it seems to me that most of their complaints are tactical when… Continue reading
37 Comments
Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman play a cautious game at PMQs
There was a rare moment of unity between the Tory awkward squad and the Whips at PMQs today. The awkward squad relished brandishing copies of a Liberal Democrat leaflet promising… Continue reading
18 Comments
Will the draft EU referendum bill calm Tory tensions?
The last few days have seen the Tory party losing its collective head. Number 10 hopes that the publication of a draft referendum bill will begin to restore order. If… Continue reading
45 Comments
Gove: I’d vote to leave the EU if referendum held today
In a firecracker of an interview on the Andrew Marr Show, Michael Gove confirmed that if an EU referendum was held today he would vote out. But he followed this… Continue reading
112 Comments
If Cameron is going to win in 2015, he is going to need a lot of help from Boris
One consequence of the local elections is that no Tory now denies that they need to win over UKIP voters to win the next election. How to do that, though,… Continue reading
90 Comments
MPs gear up for 2015 slugfest in Queen’s Speech debate
The Queen’s Speech debate is always a mix of MPs patting each other on the back and political combat. This year, in a sign that the next election is looming… Continue reading
41 Comments
What was Clegg’s priority in the last few hours of the coalition talks? Stopping a European renegotiation
The latest extracts of the Andrew Adonis’ book on the 2010 coalition negotiations couldn’t have been better designed to stir up Tory backbench bad feeling to Nick Clegg. Adonis claims that… Continue reading
60 Comments
The Tory party holds its nerve – for now
The dust is settling from the County Council elections and, crucially, the Tory party seems to have stayed steady. Yes, David Davis has had a pop at the number of… Continue reading
231 Comments
David Davis and the Tories’ class war
To the relief of Conservative Campaign Headquarters, relatively few Tory MPs have taken the opportunity of the County Council election results to sound off. The most prominent exception to this… Continue reading
167 Comments
Nigel Farage, the anti-politician
Nigel Farage was in full anti-politics mode this morning on the Today programme. He railed against ‘three frontbenches that look and sound the same’ and ‘haven’t done a proper day’s… Continue reading
41 Comments
Labour hold South Shields with Ukip 2nd and Lib Dems 7th
The result is now in from South Shields. As expected, Labour have held the seat. Ukip have come second, with the Tories third and the Liberal Democrats a spectacularly bad… Continue reading
40 Comments
Nigel Farage’s tax flip-flop shows us where he’s trying to take his party
We might this week have seen some scrutiny of UKIP candidates, but so far we’ve seen little scrutiny of their policies. But the better the party does, the more policy… Continue reading
81 Comments
Chris Lockwood to join new Number 10 policy unit
Downing Street has pulled off a coup with the recruitment of Chris Lockwood, the US editor of The Economist, to the new Downing Street policy unit. Lockwood is one of… Continue reading
35 Comments
Local elections: Tory leadership prepares MPs for the worst
The Tory leadership is getting increasingly nervous that the party isn’t sufficiently braced for bad local election results this Thursday. They’re worried that too many MPs assume the party won’t… Continue reading
73 Comments
Ed Miliband stays in the rough with oddly charmless radio interview
The problem with Ed Miliband’s World at One interview was that he addressed Martha Kearney as if she was a public meeting. Whenever she asked him a difficult question, he just… Continue reading
101 Comments
Nick Clegg: No one has proposed to me that the UK should leave the European Court of Human Rights
In a detailed interview on the Sunday Politics, Nick Clegg claimed that neither the Home Secretary nor Downing Street have ever proposed to him that Britain should temporarily leave the… Continue reading
49 Comments
David Cameron and the married couple’s tax allowance
The married couple’s tax allowance is back on the agenda. After Conservative Home’s exclusive yesterday, David Cameron has confirmed that he will introduce one before the end of this parliament.… Continue reading
32 Comments

